- On this edition of "Native Report", we meet James Vukelich, who is teaching Ojibwe language, one word per day.

- We then meet Ojibwe language instructor, Brian Kingfisher, and learn about how the language is being taught during the time of COVID-19.

- And we learn about how one grassroots native group is helping unsheltered native people meet their basic needs by providing hot meals during the pandemic.

- We also learn what we can do to lead healthier lives and hear from our elders on this edition of "Native Report".

- [Announcer] Production funding for "Native Report" is provided in part by the Blandin Foundation.

(upbeat instrumental music) - Welcome to "Native Report", and thanks for tuning in.

I'm Rita Aspinwall.

- Thanks Rita, and I'm Ernie Stevens.

James Vukelich is the creator of "Ojibwe Word Of The Day", and has been recognized as a leading voice in native language revitalization efforts.

The way he reaches his audience is through his personal blog, and the social media platforms of Facebook and YouTube.

No matter how he reaches people who are interested in learning Ojibwe, James is more than glad to help.

(instrumental music) (speaks foreign language) (speaks foreign language) - What I said there was a traditional Ojibwe protocol greeting.

I said hello all of my relatives.

My name is (indistinct) I'm Turtle clan, I'm a descendant of Turtle Mountain.

I live close to Minneapolis today.

And I want to thank all of you, first and foremost, for tuning in and listening to this live "Ojibwe Word Of The Day".

I have done variants of it, but I thought I would do the Ojibwe word for here she is, alive.

Here she lives.

(speaks foreign language) (speaks foreign language) - So, what I said there was very similar, hello, how are you doing?

My name is Ernie Stevens III, but I'm also known as (speaks foreign language) Which means he speaks as he's coming this way.

That's their Oneida language, (speaks foreign language) The Iroquois Confederacy.

And I am also of the Turtle clan.

- Ah (speaks foreign language) My relative.

- Yeah, yeah.

And the people of the Standing Stone is the land and people from which I come.

- I appreciate that, I love hearing (speaks foreign language) That's really cool.

- Yeah yeah, I wish I was more...

Prominent as you are in your language.

My great grandmother was one of our last living first language Oneida speakers.

And she's no longer with us, she passed away about... Oh, gee, six seven years ago now?

What do you think has been the most impactful thing, from you as a teacher, seeing someone learning their language, your particular language.

- People learn, I believe people acquire language differently at different stages in their life.

I think that the most efficient way to teach the language to our young children would be through immersion.

And total immersion as well.

Not where you have a phrase in whatever indigenous language you're using, and then translating that in English, but just using the language.

In that environment, kids can acquire the language very quickly.

That may not always be the best way for adult learners to learn the language.

Sometimes that can be very frustrating.

I like to use tools that we've already acquired through like the Western education system.

Where we're literate.

We know how to read, we know how to write, we know how to use technology.

And in that case I think maybe total immersion can be sometimes too daunting.

And so they're using tools like literacy.

We have a ever-growing audio literature growing right now.

As well as using the technology to be able to listen to speakers who may no longer be living.

- We'll go back to the Word Of The Day, again.

You know, something real simple, but I think impactful.

What drove you to decide to want to do that?

- [James] Originally, when I began doing Word Of The Day, it was when I was working in teaching with Indian education in Minneapolis public schools.

For me, I'm generation X, so I was a late comer to using social media, and Facebook or MySpace before that.

But I saw the potential for it.

In my graduate studies I loved looking at the different dialects of initial (indistinct) And rather than, I think sometimes we get in this box where our way is the right way.

Rather than, oh wow, what an amazingly diverse and complicated language.

And that should really be something that's celebrated.

And if you can be humble about that, that oh maybe there are different ways that people either pronounce or describe similar concepts, that can really enrich your learning.

It can enrich your vocabulary and your understanding of what your relatives are trying to say.

So, when I do that it's always, there's always the statement that, oh this is how the language here in...

They call it South Western Chippewa, where it would be Minnesota Ojibwean parts of Michigan.

How they would say that here.

Just above the border in, like maybe Fort Frances, Couchiching, and up north.

They have some different pronunciations, or different, yeah definitely different pronunciations as well as different conjugations for particular nouns.

Which is great, and so if I hear someone say, (speaks foreign language) I'm from resident (speaks foreign language) I can guess, oh maybe you're from Winnipeg.

Maybe you are from Fort Frances.

Or if I hear (speaks foreign language) maybe you're from Wisconsin, or a community here in Minnesota.

- There's a lot of different ways to use a lot of different words.

Context, who you're talking to, age, all these different things.

People really love learning about that diversity.

- As you begin learning the language, as you find a number of others who speak the language, maybe young people who are teaching at schools where you have language tables and your kid's learning it.

Acknowledge that, oh I'll spend the rest of my life doing this, and I think that that can shift our focus.

And that's going to give us a great opportunity to learn and acquire more knowledge, and acquire more language and culture.

(upbeat traditional music) - This book is the "Library Of Health".

It was published in 1920, and I was hoping it would have information about the 1918 influenza pandemic.

That pandemic killed 50 million people, or one-third of the world's population.

There are stories of entire families dying in a single day.

There's no mention of influenza in here, because it took four years for a book to go from a finished manuscript to a published work.

The fact that it doesn't mention influenza illustrates how blindsided the world was by this pandemic.

The treatments for infections in this book are Dover's powder, mercury, foot baths, and a multitude of other things that didn't work very well.

Penicillin wasn't discovered by Sir Andrew Fleming until 1928.

And there were no good treatments for bacterial infections in this book.

This machine is simply named Lightning.

There are no directions with it, and it clearly uses electricity.

The setting for carcinoma or cancer is from one to 20.

The setting for general poison is 11 to 50.

The setting for acid in joints is one to 10.

The setting for vitality is 60 to 350.

I can imagine some of these treatments were painful, and anyone investing in a machine like this, no doubt used it often.

There are treatments that have been in use for millennia and are still in use.

Acupuncture and many forms of traditional medicine are still valid treatments.

Sham treatments like the lightening machine are no longer in use because they didn't work.

And many were downright dangerous.

Medicine has come a long way in the last hundred years.

Life expectancy for men in 1920 was 58.8 years.

And for women with 60.6 years.

Life expectancy as of 2011 is extended more than 20 years at 79.3 years for men, and 83.6 years for women.

In the early 20th century approximately a 100 out of every 1000 live births died by the age of one year.

By 1997, that rate dropped to 7.9.

The reason behind these advances is science and the establishment of public health.

Better environmental standards, safe drinking water, vaccines, antibiotics, car seats, helmets, and any number of interventions has bettered our standard of living.

Understanding cell biology has allowed remarkable strides in medicine, and the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Diagnostic imaging is nothing short of amazing.

It's been said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

That still holds.

In spite of our advances in technology, clean air, clean water, exercise, good relationships and taking care of ourselves and our loved ones are still the most important contributors to long and healthy lives.

As always, talk with your healthcare provider.

And remember to call an elder, they've been waiting for your call.

I'm Dr. Arne Vainio, and this is Health Matters.

(upbeat music) - Brian Kingfisher teaches the Ojibwe language at the college level.

And we interviewed him before the COVID-19 shutdown back in March of 2020.

We reached out once again to ask about the challenges of teaching the language in the time of COVID.

(instrumental music) - I think the hardest part about like saying that a language is dying is to say that it's dying, right?

I'm not of that mentality at all.

It's like languages don't die, they just kind of go to sleep or they go into hibernation.

My parents did not speak.

There is a story though that on my mom's side, she spoke Anishinaabemowin but they didn't know that she had, because they thought like she had forgotten it all.

But I guess on her death bed she suffered a stroke and that's all she could speak on her deathbed, was Anishinaabemowin.

I was born in Lac Courte Oreilles.

Raised by both my parents.

Both my parents were raised Catholic.

I remember just going back, like as far back as like high school being really passionate about learning the language.

An elder by the name of Ruth Corbine, she was the first person that really said, well you can really learn this language if you put, you know, you put your mind to it.

And I just remember like grinding out learning words.

And then I ended up going to community college for a period.

And I met a man named David Bisnett.

And, oh that guy he scared the hell out of me because he didn't speak any English to us in the classroom.

And it was my first real experience, right of like this is what learning a second language is like.

So, I dropped out of that class.

But you could say that I ran away from it.

I didn't want to deal with it.

And then, but he kept kind of popping up every once in a while and like saying things, you know like how important it is to like go back to our culture.

You know, like what it means to like learn a language.

And it was basically a challenge.

So I was like, well I'm not really one to back down from a challenge, am I?

So I came back and I was... Me and him like got really close, like towards the end of like, by the time I graduated in 2010.

And by that time I'd already gotten I'd already gotten accepted to UW Madison.

So I got my background is an associates degree in Native American Studies, with Ojibwe language as the emphasis and the focus.

And then my bachelor's and master's degrees are on linguistics and teacher education.

When I came here, all of the Ojibwe language classes were only two credits.

So, we're working to change them to full four credit courses.

Ojibwe is that fancy language where one word could mean like five different things in English.

I remember (speaks foreign language) They asked for a word, as like the squeeze, like something out of a tube.

And they got a word to like squeeze the toothpaste out of someone.

(speaks foreign language) Goes, well how do you squeeze the toothpaste out of someone?

And Wagush just replies with, oh come here, I'll show you.

You know, and it's just like, here, like, it's like it's not just toothpaste.

It's like that oil or that liquid that comes out of tubes.

It's just like, it's the humor in the language almost.

And that's what's fascinating to me about it.

And so, like with that regard, they have books on, you know, science terminology, math terms.

There's a whole book on vulgarity that they did.

And it's, you know, and that's fascinating to me.

It's like, oh you want to learn these words?

Here, here's a whole book on them.

Here's how, you know, here's how to, you know, here's the word for the Dewey decimal system.

Here's a decimal point.

And you know, and I don't know any of those words because they're like 17 syllables long.

But that's proof that the language is evolving and it's growing.

But if I get like 45 seconds of silence, I'll turn to one of them.

(speaks foreign language) How are you today?

And it's always the same answer, (speaks foreign language) You're always tired, tell me something new all right.

Like give me something else.

(speaks foreign language) Don't say that, I don't like hearing that.

Because it's the go-to answer, right?

It's like, when I'm not here to hear you say you're well.

I want you to tell me how you're feeling.

That's how you use the language.

So I'll tease them about... (speaks foreign language) That's you when you speak.

And that's what you say.

There's like five different ways to say I love you.

There are stories from my dad's side, said that he had his grandmother spoke, she kept the language hidden.

And she would only speak to her brothers, but she was deaf.

So they would, so they had to be sitting right in front of her, but she could read lips really well.

And, so she would have conversations with them in Ojibwe.

I'll say (speaks foreign language) Because that's where I'm from, I'm from a region where we say (speaks foreign language) instead of (speaks foreign language) And that's a variation.

And there are places who say that, they'll say (speaks foreign language) Some people will break off the holes altogether.

Are we accounting for spelling systems like that?

I think, you know, we need to have that space for you know, for learning.

We need to teach it in the classrooms a certain way, but allow for like, oh well we say it this way.

Okay, can you explain why?

Or like, where are you from?

Like having that third space there so that they can learn it.

And I might be off my rocker on that, but I feel like that's how we learn.

We learn from each other, not just I know what I'm teaching because I went to school for it.

No, this person's got some knowledge of the language.

How do you say it?

(instrumental music) - We did an art and writing submission request across Canada.

And so we have writings from students across Canada, as well as various artwork.

So this is one letter from a student.

It was so good that we put the whole letter in the book in its entirety, from Josephine, grade five.

And that came from Toronto, Ontario.

"Dear Ms. Webstad, it is a privilege to be writing to you.

"I was overwhelmed to find out what you through "at St. Joseph Mission Residential School.

"It must have been hard to be living "in such a traumatic state of mind at such a young age.

"I think the era of residential schooling "was one of the darkest spans of Canadian history. "

It must have been an awful experience "when the young children were deprived "of being with their families, following their traditions, "and even something as basic as eating what they like.

"My heart goes out to all the 150,000 students "at residential schools at that time "who were abused physically, mentally and emotionally.

"It must have been an unimaginable extent of suffering."

(instrumental music) - The Red Nation, a grassroots native group based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is helping unsheltered native people meet their basic needs by providing hot meals during the pandemic.

Join us as we learn more about Red Nation.

(instrumental music) - [Reporter] Every Sunday, volunteers gather at office space of the Red Nation in Albuquerque for a solidarity feed.

Preparing hot foods to be handed out to unsheltered people at parks and streets around the city.

This day, 200 bean burritos are made.

COVID-19 has hit tribal communities hard, and people on the streets are too often overlooked.

For members of the Red Nation, the work's more than just feeding people.

It's a key tribal value of community.

And for some it's personal.

- My family and I, which included myself, my partner, my two kids, and my grandson.

The five of us were living out of a truck.

And we were staying at the West Side Facility.

It's an old jail that got re-gutted, and we had a room there.

And we stayed there from December to March.

We stayed there and we were part of this family out on the streets.

We were part of that scene.

And so we were eating at the kitchens.

And you know all this good stuff that we're doing now.

So it's really important for me to give back, and to be always humble about that.

Always be grounded to know that it could happen to anyone.

'Cause it happened to us, we never knew it would happen to us, but it did.

I really think that it gives dignity back to the people because the people that actually really show humbleness in this kind of work really give you a sense of dignity and you can walk.

You can walk with your head up even if you're on the receiving end.

So, you know, that's why it's so important to me to connect like that.

And I often say like, if it could just touch one person to go home, that has happened.

And that's the reason why it's so personal and dear to me.

- [Reporter] The solidarity feeds have grown to include handing out hygiene kits, women's menstruation and baby products, and personal protective equipment.

All made possible by donations.

In late September alone, the group received thousands of masks.

- In our experience, we see that there's a stigma especially that revolves around homelessness.

And a lot of the times people can't even go to the store to buy stuff.

Or even, I mean sure , a soap is what a dollar, but even to someone who's doesn't have those resources, or homeless, they don't have even...

They're not able to buy things like that.

So with that, we want to provide that.

And I mean, the things we provide them are everyday necessities that shouldn't even be questioned.

Like, it shouldn't be so hard for them to have these things.

It should be more widely accessible.

So we feel like if we provide these things with them, they'll be able to have a more fulfilling life.

Like they'll be able to even just take care of themselves.

- [Reporter] The Red Nations efforts assisting unsheltered people include advocating for those facing violence and racism on the streets.

To gathering backpacks and winter gear through an initiative called No Dead Natives.

Grassroots members are primarily indigenous elders and young people dedicated to indigenous liberation from capitalism and colonization.

Including through their service to the unsheltered on traditional indigenous territory.

- We do this work because we know that somebody has to, and somebody has to do it out of a spirit of solidarity, and not just charity.

Because we're not, we don't pity our people.

We don't look down on them because they're on the streets.

We don't look down on them because they struggle with addiction, sort of struggle with, you know, other things like mental illnesses, et cetera.

We choose to just see them as humans.

And every human needs food and water.

And so the state doesn't take up that work to feed our people.

And under the pandemic, we've seen skyrocketing like increase of people experiencing homelessness.

And there's nobody doing anything about it.

And a lot of the times it's also people in our families.

It's really important for people to acknowledge the lands that we're on, because it's a broader conversation around history.

And it's a broader conversation about understanding why people are in the positions that they're in.

A lot of the times the people who are on the streets are struggling not only with addiction, might be struggling with like mental health issues, or illnesses I should say.

Some of them have been relocated and displaced off of their homelands.

Others may experience a lot of different things.

Like we see sometimes families, like mothers and children who are on the streets.

- [Reporter] Members of the grassroots groups are challenging the narrative around this type of work, from charity to community.

And are also shining a light on indigenous history, while dismantling systems of oppression.

- You put some products in here for you too.

Looking at, you know, especially here in Tiwa territory, and then when we were up North in Tewa territory in Santa Fe, realizing that the majority of the folks that are displaced, that are in shelter are our relatives, they speak our languages.

They carry the same traditional values that we do.

And realizing that they're being misrepresented and under serviced on lands that were theirs, that are theirs.

You know, I think really plays into the work that we're trying to do because we recognize that not everyone has the same capacity that we do, or the privileges that we do, even having survived all that we have.

And the cultural genocides, the physical genocides of our people.

We still have homes, you know, over our heads.

And a lot of these folks, I mean, they feel at home here because it is their land, but we would like to see them with the same services that other folks are afforded you know, on stolen territories.

We're here and we're following the trails of our people because that's how they know to find us.

And I think that's a big homecoming in and of itself, is creating the places where they remember how to find us, and also where we know how to find them.

I mean, police officers do sweeps of people here all the time.

Sometimes we come and the parks are empty.

And when we find them they get so excited because they're like, you know, we were hoping you would be able to see where we are because they moved us.

And then they tell us how forcefully they were moved and we get enraged.

And they need somebody on their side.

And I feel like that is decolonizing, because everybody else just wants to be seen doing the good work but they don't actually want to put up the good fight.

And I feel like that's part of the work that we're trying to do is just, you know, be that backbone for folks.

You know, I don't want to ever say that we're empowering people because no one has their power taken from them unless they give it away.

But we're definitely breathing life back into limbs that haven't had it in a long time.

- [Ernie] For more information about "Native Report", look for us on the web at www.nativereport.org, on Facebook, and on YouTube.

- Thank you for spending this time with your friends and neighbors across Indian country.

I'm Rita Aspinwall.

- And I'm Ernie Stevens.

Join us next time for "Native Report".

(instrumental music) (instrumental music)